Las Cruces, also known as "The City of the Crosses", is the
county seat of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, United States. The population was
101,047 in 2012 making it the second largest city in the state, after
Albuquerque. Las Cruces is the largest city in both Dona Ana County, and
southern New Mexico. It is the principal city of a metropolitan statistical
area which encompasses all of Dona Ana County and is part of the larger El
Paso–Las Cruces combined statistical area.
Las Cruces is the economic and geographic center of the fertile Mesilla
Valley, which is the agricultural region on the flood plain
